Dr. Christopher Sova does not necessarily term it a “bucket list” of things he wants to accomplish in life ”“ but some might, given his most recent checkmark involves lowering himself into the chum bucket, in a manner of speaking.
By day, Sova is a chiropractor with Stamford Healthcare Associates and at the Immediate Healthcare walk-in clinic in Norwalk. In his free time, he has the back of others in the Maritime Aquarium”™s 110,000-gallon shark tank ”“ yes, in it ”“ ready to fend off 7-foot sand tiger sharks from aquarium divers as they give underwater presentations to kids on the other side of the glass.
For those still scarred decades later from the experience of “Jaws,” it probably ranks among the least appealing volunteer duties in a region that prides itself on giving time to charitable causes. But Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk is currently holding a recruitment drive for divers to join Sova and others in getting an uncomfortably close brush with the largest sharks known to regularly patrol Long Island Sound.
If Sova represents man and the Maritime Aquarium”™s sand tiger sharks nature, he is under no illusions on who would come out on top in any contest pitting man versus nature. After all, he is armed only with his wits and a “tickle stick” ”“ a T-shaped contraption that poses nothing more than a mild annoyance for a fish that can weigh more than 250 pounds.
“They are very scary-looking sharks,” Sova said. “The first dive was probably the most intense ”“ not knowing what to expect, not having done it before. ”¦ They get curious and they come up right to you.”
Still, according to Maritime Aquarium spokesman Dave Sigworth, the whole point of the dive show is to demonstrate that sharks are not bloodthirsty predators that attack anything that moves, which is how people often think of them. In fact, sand tiger sharks are categorized as a species of concern due to over-fishing that has led to a 90 percent decline in their stock, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Not that Sigworth is oblivious to the possibilities ”“ a few years ago he posted data on a chat board for triathletes to note that sand tiger sharks rank fourth on a list of unprovoked shark attacks maintained by the University of Florida, although no documented attack has occurred in Long Island Sound for the past half century.
Visitors can get those factoids and more by querying an aquarium diver in the tank itself. Some aquariums take it a step further: for $155 at Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, N.Y., visitors ages 12 and older can dive among the sharks ”“ protected within the confines of a steel cage, of course. The Long Island venue is just one of several aquariums worldwide that offer underwater shark encounters in their ocean tanks.
Not to be outdone ”“ well, perhaps only a tad ”“ the Maritime Aquarium in April brought back an exhibit that allows visitors to touch nurse sharks. And the past few summers, it has scheduled activities to coincide with the Discovery Channel”™s popular “Shark Week” programming in August ”“ including allowing a few visitors to feed the sand tiger sharks.
For Sova, a life goal of learning scuba diving has fed into a volunteer activity that will furnish a lifetime of memories ”“ a long lifetime, he expects.
“It gave me a new respect,” he said.
